Claure is in while Sprint’s $32 billion merger plan with T-Mobile is out.

Regulators with the FCC and Department of Justice were apparently not persuaded that more wireless consolidation was a good thing.

Claure’s stature was growing inside Sprint, as concerns hit a tipping point in mid-July, people familiar with the matter said. Claure’s job is to turn around the 38,000 person company that has spent the better part of a decade losing customers and money.

Mr. Son, whose confidence in Mr. Hesse had been waning, spoke to him a number of times about his role at the company over the past several weeks, according to The Journal.

Meanwhile, on a July 30 conference call, Sprint told analysts and investors that its network overhaul was “substantially complete” and that it is testing new price plans in preparation for an aggressive push for customers later this year.

The progress on its network overhaul and a viable CEO candidate gave the board the confidence that the company could stand alone, says the WSJ. The plan now is for Sprint to be a “price leader” later in the year, the Sprint executive said.

Sprint Spark combines Sprint’s 800 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum to offer devices faster speeds while minimizing tower infrastructure. Sprint is deploying 8T8R antennas, using 8 transmit and 8 receive antennas, that are expected to boost range and speed some 1.5 times in the 2.6 GHz band. Sprint hopes to make coverage similar to its LTE network on their 1.9 GHz PCS band, which is currently limited to 5×5 MHz bandwidth.

Verizon Wireless’ 700 MHz LTE network covers around 306 million POPs. The carrier has also been busy deploying its LTE service on its AWS spectrum to bolster its network capacity. Verizon bought 122 AWS licenses from cable giants for $3.6 billion.

Iliad, in a news release, said it offered $15 billion in cash for 56.6% of T-Mobile US at $33 a share. Iliad added that the remaining 43.4% of T-Mobile US would be worth $40.50 a share, based on expected cost savings, giving the deal an overall per-share value of $36.20, or 17% higher than T-Mobile’s closing price Wednesday.